As a result of literature research, “The expression ‘mild cognitive impairment’ appeared in the Greek era and ‘learning disability in 80-year-olds’ appeared”
Entered 2024.02.02 14:10 Entered 2024.02.02 14:10 Modified 2024.02.02 02:24 Views 37
Literature research revealed that dementia was rare in the ancient Greek and Roman era. It is analyzed that the reason dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, has increased to the level of an infectious disease in modern society is due to sedentary lifestyles and exposure to air pollution. Most modern people work while sitting all day, and sit for long periods of time to watch TV and play games. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]It turns out that in the ancient Greek era, there was an expression for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to aging, and in the Roman era, there was an expression for memory impairment due to aging. In particular, it was revealed that there were no cases of severe memory loss reminiscent of Alzheimer’s disease during the Greek and Roman era.
A research team at the University of Southern California (USC) found that severe memory loss, which occurs as frequently as an infectious disease in modern society, appears to have been extremely rare 2000 to 2500 years ago, when Greek philosopher Aristotle and Roman anatomist Galen were alive.
The research team closely examined ancient medical texts left behind by Hippocrates and his followers. As a result, it was found that although there were descriptions of geriatric diseases such as hearing loss, dizziness, and digestive problems, there was no mention of memory loss. This supports the idea that Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for a large proportion of dementia, is caused by modern environments and lifestyles. The research team said that a sedentary lifestyle and exposure to air pollution are the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the significant increase in average life expectancy may also be a cause.
“The ancient Greeks rarely mentioned symptoms like mild cognitive impairment, but we discovered them,” said Professor Caleb Finch, a gerontologist and co-first author of the study. He added, “In particular, we found four expressions among the Romans that suggest cases of progressive dementia, where it is not clear whether it is Alzheimer’s disease or not.”
It is analyzed that the ancient Greeks recognized that although aging causes memory problems called mild cognitive impairment (MCI) today, this did not reach the serious loss of memory, language, and reasoning caused by dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. Professor Stanley Burstein (history), co-first author of the study, said, “Centuries after the ancient Greek era, in the ancient Roman era, it was mentioned that some older people began to have difficulty learning new things when they reached the age of 80.”
According to the research team, Pliny, who wrote the world’s first encyclopedia, ‘Natural History’, mentioned that Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus, a Roman Republican consul and famous orator, lost his memory in his later years and even forgot his own name. Regarding this, the politician and philosopher Cicero said, “Elderly silliness… “It is a characteristic of irresponsible elderly people, but this is not a characteristic of all elderly people,” he said, taking a cautious attitude.
Professor Finch said, “As population density in Rome increased, environmental pollution became more severe, and the number of cases of cognitive decline seems to have increased. “Roman nobles used lead dishes and lead water pipes, and added lead acetate to wine to sweeten it, unknowingly becoming addicted to a powerful neurotoxin,” he said. Some scholars have blamed lead poisoning for the fall of the Roman Empire. In the absence of demographic data on ancient Greece and Rome, the research team also targeted American Indians, the indigenous people of today’s Bolivian Amazon, as their research subjects.
The results of this study (Dementia in the Ancient Greco-Roman World Was Minimally Mentioned) were published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
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2024-02-02 05:13:33
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